We are just a few days away from the start of homestretch of the ECAC Hockey regular season, and it has been an interesting road.

There have been some expected events, some surprises and, definitely, a shocker or two.

As we prepare for the final month of the season, here is my look at the expected, the surprises and the disappointments.

The expected
Union — Despite a new coach and a question about goaltending, the Dutchmen were expected to contend for another Cleary Cup title as they were picked to finish second in the coaches and media preseason polls.

As the calendar changes from January to February, the Dutchmen are in first place. Rick Bennett has done a great job replacing Nate Leaman behind the bench, and Troy Grosenick has been more than a capable replacement for Keith Kinkaid in goal.

The offense continues to click, led by Kelly Zajac, Daniel Carr, Jeremy Welsh and Wayne Simpson.

Colgate — You may be saying to yourself, "You expected Colgate to be good this season?" And my answer is yes.

Last year, the Raiders stunningly struggled during the regular season and finished last. It was surprising because it was an enormously talented team. And that showed in the postseason, when Colgate upset fifth-seeded RPI and top-seeded Union in the ECACH tournament to get the championship round.

This season, except for a rough start to January, the Raiders have been playing well. Senior forward Austin Smith is a candidate for the Hobey Baker Award (personal opinion, he should be the favorite), as he has 26 goals and 15 assists. Smith has more short-handed goals (six) than power-play goals (four).

So, I am not surprised Colgate is in third place and playing well.

Surprises
Harvard — The media didn't have any faith in the Crimson, picking them to finish last. A lot had to do with the fact that Harvard struggled to score goals over the last couple of seasons under coach Ted Donato.

That hasn't been the case this season. Harvard leads the county in power-play efficiency at 31.8 percent (27-for-85). Overall, the Crimson are averaging 3.05 goals per game. Now, if they can turn some of those eight ties into wins, they could be ranked in the top-20. Harvard is 6-6-8 overall, including 5-4-6 in ECACH.

RPI — With the loss of the team's top two goal scorers in Chase Polacek and Tyler Helfrich and goalie Allen York, RPI was expected to struggle, so it seemed strange that it was picked to finish fourth by the coaches and fifth by the media.

But no one expected the Engineers to struggle as much as they have. Goaltending hasn't been a problem. Bryce Merriam has played well. But the offensive struggles for most of the season have been surprising. The leading goal scorers are defenseman Nick Bailen and forwards Marty O'Grady and Ryan Haggerty with five each. Jacob Laliberte, who put up great numbers in juniors, has struggled in his freshman season. I think fans expected a little bit better offensive production out of this team.

Shockers
Yale —When the Bulldogs dominated Union in a 4-0 win on Nov. 12 at Messa Rink, they looked like a team that was going to be tough beat.

Since then, the defending ECACH tournament champions have struggled. A shocking 7-6 loss to previously winless Sacred Heart Nov. 22 sent the Bulldogs into a tailspin that hasn't stopped. They just snapped a five-game winless streak Saturday with a 5-4 win at Dartmouth, a game in which they overcame a 4-1 deficit. Maybe that will spark them to get better.

Since a 5-3 win against Connecticut Nov. 19 improved its record to 5-1-1, Yale has gone 4-9-1 in the next 14 games. The Bulldogs are 6-7-1 in ECACH and are battling for home ice in the first round of the tournament.

Dartmouth — The Big Green seemed poised for a run at the Cleary Cup. Senior goalie James Mello was a near-unanimous pick in the coaches and media preseason all-conference team. And Dartmouth got to the ECACH tournament championship round last March.

So, why are the Big Green only at .500 in the league (6-6-1) and overall (9-9-2). Mello has struggled (3.23 goals-against average and a .890 save percentage). He has been splitting time with sophomore Cab Morris, To me, a telling sign that Mello is in coach Bob Gaudet's doghouse is that when Morris was pulled during the Big Green's 7-1 loss at Union Jan. 7, it was little-used senior James O'Neill, and not Mello, who went in.

I can only imagine how upset Gaudet was after Saturday night's game against Yale after his team blew a 4-1 lead.

Colgate sweeps
One big reason Colgate is in third place is its sweep of the home-and-home series of Central New York-rival Cornell.

The Raiders took a 2-1 win at Lynah Rink on Friday. Chris Wagner and Joe Wilson scored first-period goals for Colgate. Joakim Ryan got Cornell's goal in the second period.

The third period both nights proved to be Cornell's undoing. In Friday's game, the Big Red managed just one shot on goal.

Saturday was worse. Cornell took a 3-1 lead into the third period, and proceeded to give up four goals in the final 20 minutes. Wilson scored 4:39 into the third to cut Cornell's lead to 3-2. Smith scored a short-handed goal just over 90 seconds later to tie it. Robbie Bourdon's power-play goal with 5:06 left gave the Raiders the lead. Thomas Larkin added an empty-netter to seal it.

It's Colgate's first season sweep of Cornell since 2003-04.

Union coaches radio show
"The Union College Hockey Coaches Show Live" from Bombers Burrito Bar in downtown Schenectady returns to the radio airwaves Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WVKZ-AM (1240), WABY-AM (1160) and Teamline.cc.

TV games
There are more college hockey games on TV this weekend.

RPI will be on twice. The Engineers get the national treatment again from NBC Sports Network with their game against Cornell at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Saturday's Big Red Freakout game will be on Time Warner Cable Sports at 7 p.m. The game will be produced by RPI TV.

Elsewhere Friday, CBS Sports Network has a double-header. Game 1 features Providence, with former Union coach Nate Leaman, facing New Hampshire and Watervliet's Mike Borisenok, at 7:30 p.m. That is followed by RIT at Air Force at 10 p.m. The Big Ten Network has St. Cloud State at Wisconsin at 8 p.m. FOX College Sports Atlantic features Miami (Ohio) and Michigan at 7:30 p.m. FOX College Sports Central has Bemidji State at North Dakota at 8 p.m. At 9:30 p.m. on FOX College Sports Pacific, it's Colorado College at Denver.

RPI alumni game
The annual RPI men's alumni hockey game will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday at Houston Field House. Here is the list of alums (with year they graduated) scheduled to attend:
Matt Angers-Goulet ’09, Conrad Barnes ’04, Scott Basiuk ’04, Tom Bellatty ’51, Stu Benton ’62, Red Bliss ’38, Kevin Broad ’07, Carson Butterwick ’03, Ed Crowley ’60, Hamish Cunning ’02, Dan Eberly ’03, Nick Economakos ’05.

Marc Glasser ’81, JF Gosselin ’99, Nolan Graham ’03, Scott Halpern ’11, Doug Hearns ’71, Daniel Hershberg ’62, Joel Kavet ’62, Ken Kearns ’84, Reed Kipp ’09, Paul Kitchen ’73, Seth Klerer ’09, Paul Krosney ’68.

Kevin Kurk ’04, Dino Macaluso ’82, Bob Mattice ’76, Matt McNeeley ’05, Ron Moreau ’70, George Murray ’99, Will Neubert ’08, Tom Nichol ’69, Dan Peace ’08, Vic Pereira ’05, Jim Pollock ’72, Scott Prekaski ’00, Chuck Rancourt ’70.

Rich Scammell ’69, Francois Senez ’03, Jim Vickers ’02, Kurt Wiesel ’03, Mark Yurkewecz ’06, Donald Zulch ’51.

Tickets are still available for RPI's games against Cornell on Friday and Colgate for Saturday's Big Red Freakout. So, don't assume the games are sellouts.

Dutchmen move up in polls
Union's victories over Clarkson and St. Lawrence helped moved the ECAC Hockey leaders in the USCHO.com/NCAA top-20 college hockey poll Monday.

The Dutchmen moved from 14th into a tie for 11th with Colorado College. Both teams earned 451 points. Union beat Clarkson, 5-2, Friday, and defeated St. Lawrence, 6-0, Saturday.

The two teams that are coming to Messa Rink this weekend, Colgate and Cornell, are also ranked. Colgate, which plays Union on Friday, is 20th. Cornell, Union's opponent Saturday, is 14th.

Union moved from 13th to 12th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine top-15 poll.

USCHO.com/NCAA Poll
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Minnesota-Duluth (28) 17- 5-4 959 1
2 Minnesota (21) 19- 9-1 918 3
3 Boston University 15- 8-1 799 2
4 Merrimack 14- 5-5 784 5
5 Boston College 16-10-1 777 7
6 Ferris State (1) 17- 8-3 716 10
7 Michigan 15- 9-4 689 8
8 Notre Dame 15-10-3 673 4
9 Massachusetts-Lowell 16- 7-0 596 11
10 Ohio State 14- 8-5 531 6
11 Union 15- 6-6 451 14
11 Colorado College 14- 9-1 451 12
13 Denver 15- 8-3 383 15
14 Cornell 11- 6-4 338 9
15 Maine 14- 8-3 326 20
16 Western Michigan 13-10-5 290 13
17 North Dakota 15-10-2 227 18
18 Miami 15-11-2 220 17
19 Northern Michigan 12- 9-5 111 19
20 Colgate 14- 9-3 87 NR
Others receiving votes: Michigan State 69, Lake Superior 52, RIT 15, Nebraska-Omaha 10, Michigan Tech 5, Quinnipiac 5, Harvard 4, Northeastern 1.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll
(First-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Last Week's Ranking 2011-12 Record Weeks in Top 15
1 Minnesota, 475 (18) 3 19-9-1 16
2 Minnesota Duluth, 473 (16) 1 17-5-4 17
3 Boston University, 394 2 15-8-1 14
4 Merrimack, 376 5 14-5-5 16
5 Boston College, 332 8 16-10-1 17
6 Notre Dame, 320 4 15-10-3 17
7 Ferris State, 317 12 17-8-3 12
8 Michigan, 278 9 15-9-4 13
9 UMass Lowell, 250 11 16-7-0 5
10 Ohio State, 178 7 14-8-5 11
11 Colorado College, 150 10 14-9-1 17
12 Union, 128 13 15-6-6 15
13 Denver, 118 15 15-8-3 16
14 Cornell, 108 6 11-6-4 7
15 Maine, 60 NR 14-8-3 2
Others receiving votes: Western Michigan, 44; Miami (Ohio), 34; North Dakota, 24; Northern Michigan, 12; Colgate, 7; RIT, 2.

The Dutchmen moved from seventh to fourth in the Inside College Hockey Power Rankings. To view INCH's Power Rankings, click here.

My vote
I have a vote in the USCHO.com poll. Here is how I voted this week.
1) Minn. Duluth
2) Minnesota
3) Merrimack
4) Notre Dame
5) Boston College
6) Michigan
7) Boston U.
8) Ferris State
9) Union
10) Ohio State
11) UMass-Lowell
12) Denver
13) Colorado College
14) Cornell
15) Western Michigan
16) North Dakota
17) Maine
18) Miami
19) Colgate
20) Northern Michigan

Daily Gazette ECACH Awards
Time for my weekly awards.

Player of the Week — Alex Killorn, Harvard
The senior forward had three goals in helping Harvard beat Yale and Brown. He had the game-winning goals in both games.

Goalie of the Week — Troy Grosenick
The sophomore netminder posted his fourth shutout of the season with a 26-save effort in Saturday's 6-0 win over St. Lawrence. Grosenick also made 30 saves in Friday's 5-2 triumph over Clarkson.

Rookie of the Week — Joe Wilson, Colgate
The freshman forward had two goals and two assists in the two wins over Cornell.

Co-Teams of the Week — Colgate and Union
The Raiders posted their first sweep of Cornell since 2003-04, while the Dutchmen's sweep of the North Country teams Engineers earn their first ECACH sweep of the season.

If you have any comments, post them below, or e-mail them to me at schott@dailygazette.com. You can follow me on Twitter (@slapschotts) Also, please become a fan of two Facebook pages — The Daily Gazette On Ice, and my "Slap Schotts" college hockey segment page.

Good Monday! Good Hockey!